'Winter plan' aims to increase health funding 20-fold to treat more patients in the community

Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, announced the €600m winter plan that aims to boost health service capacity. Picture: Julien Behal/PA Wire

A €600m ‘winter plan’ promises to boost the capacity of the health service to deal with “unprecedented” challenges this winter by treating more patients in the community rather than in hospitals, providing more home care packages, and using private hospital capacity.

The record funding – 20 times that allocated last year - was announced at the launch of the government’s ‘Plan for Living with Covid-19' over the next six to nine months.